A Bad Moon Shining Down on Me
by Halawen
Summary: Reporter Clare gets in over her head while tracking a story. Best friend Adam is worried but he gets help from cops Spinner and Lucas. Future fic. PLEASE READ A/Ns. Suspense and fluff. Also fet. Jane and Paige. ONE SHOT!


**Welcome to this Spare shot!**

 **Legal: I own nothing but the idea**

 **Very important things to know before reading:**

 ***This is a future fic.**

 ***Clare is 23 and graduated from Columbia last year. Moved back to Toronto taking a job with a nationally syndicated investigative magazine (which I made up for this story)**

 ***Adam is also 23 and living in Toronto.**

 ***Spinner and Lucas are cops, Spinner is 29 and Lucas is 26.**

 ***Spinner never married Emma she married Sean. Not that they're in this but she married Sean.**

 ***This is mostly suspense with a bit of fluff this is your only warning.**

 **Okay the rest is in the shot so I hope you enjoy!**

 **A Bad Moon Shining Down on Me**

 **(CLARE)**

"It's my favorite detectives," I smile when Spinner and Lucas walk over to their desks. I got here about five minutes ago and they weren't at their desks so I sat in Lucas' chair and have my feet on his desk.

"And our favorite reporter," Lucas smirks before picking me up out of his seat. He then hands me to Spinner before he sits down.

"What do you need this time?" Spinner asks setting me down on his desk and sits in his chair.

"The usual, a quote would be nice and anything you can divulge. You have to admit the recent rise in crimes is suspicious. The murder last night being the most violent do you think this is contagious behavior? The work of gangs? The downfall of government?" I question them.

"I think it's a lot of separate crimes," Lucas replies.

"There is a theory that it's the work of gang initiations, many crimes are from the small to the big. But that's just a theory and you can't print that," Spin warns me.

"Uncover is a monthly magazine and the last issue just came out it won't be published for three weeks relax. Anything else to say on these crimes D.C. Mason?"

"The Ontario Provincial Police is doing all they can to put an end to this rash of crimes and make Toronto safe again. We've doubled street patrols and Guns and Gangs Division is cracking down in all areas," Spinner replies.

"Very nice, may I quote you on that Spinner?"

"Yes, as long as it doesn't come out before I say so," he replies.

"Of course," I grin clicking my phone open and finding the list I made on the map app. "I'm making a list of all the locations for crimes; robbery and bigger that is, in the last two weeks. Any to add to this?" I ask handing the phone to Spin.

He takes it, looks at it and raises his eyebrows before reaching across the desks to hand the phone to Lucas for him to see. Lucas takes the phone and Spinner looks at me.

"That's an impressive map you put that together yourself?" Spinner asks as Lucas hands me back the phone.

"Yes," I nod.

"That's some good detective work, I think you're in the wrong job," Lucas comments.

"Clare write the story but leave the police work to us," Spinner censures.

"Half of journalism is police work, we have to be detectives too you know."

"You need to be careful," Spinner warns.

"I'm not trailing a murder just looking into the rash of crimes," I respond.

Spinner opens his mouth to respond, but closes it again when the clicking of heels on the floor approaches. We all look over to see Paige coming this way.

"Hi Paige," Spinner and I greet.

"Hi Spin," she smiles before greeting Lucas with a kiss.

"I have a date with my husband for dinner, a date he better not be breaking," she says with her hand on Lucas' shoulder.

I'm sure it's a little odd for Spinner to have his high school sweetheart to now be married to his partner. However, they never would have met if not for Spinner. Paige moved back to town shortly after Spin and Lucas became partners, she met Spinner for dinner and he brought Lucas. The two of them hit off, began dating and last year got married. All together they've now been together three years.

Actually, it's because Lucas and Paige are married that Adam met Lucas' sister Jane and the two of them began dating. Paige threw a dinner party and invited Spinner, Jane and me and I asked if I could bring Adam. He and Jane hit it off immediately and they've been dating over two years now.

"I'll see you tomorrow Spin," Lucas says getting up and grabbing his stuff from his desk. "Clare be careful," Lucas tells me.

"I'm going to have another dinner party soon you two will come right? I'm sure you could come together," Paige grins as Lucas puts his arm around her.

"Yeah I'll be there," Spinner nods.

"Me too," I reply. Paige grins and leaves with Lucas.

"Clare, I promise to give you an exclusive with access to as much as I can just don't go looking for trouble," Spinner says when Paige and Lucas have gone.

"I'm not looking for trouble I'm just going to go get some pictures of the crime scenes for the article. I'll only get a few tonight I'm expected at Adam's for dinner soon," I respond with a grin.

"Fine just don't go into any of the alleyways or parks when it's dark. I'm going to get some dinner and fill out some reports," Spinner comments.

He picks up some files from his desk and walks out with me to my car. I wave to him and get in my car driving to the nearest crime scene. I needed to get some pictures to go with my article and this was a good one to get in the daytime. I snapped a few pictures of the corner market where the woman had been killed in a suspected drive-by. I visit two more crime scenes in the neighborhood, a house that had been robbed by home invasion, and a street corner where a woman was kidnapped from her car and dragged to a park where she was sexually assaulted but she wasn't killed. It's beginning to get dark and I have to be at Adam and Jane's place soon for dinner but I stop at one last crime scene, more than two weeks old it's been fully processed and the crime scene tape is down. It's a house, another site of a home invasion but the elderly couple had their throats slashed while they slept. I can't get inside but I can go in the backyard where they believe the perpetrator made entry. It is pretty dark and the last quarter moon isn't very bright, but I turn on my flash. I go in and start snapping pictures of the backyard and the window where he made entry from.

"Isn't this a crime scene?"

The sudden voice startles me and I turn around with a gasp. A man maybe a few years older than I am is standing there. He's hard to make out in the dark, short dark hair it looks like. He has a slight build but he's muscular, and at least 6'1. He looks a little concerned and I think he must live in the neighborhood.

"Not anymore it's been cleared by the police. I'm a reporter, I'm doing a story on the recent rash of crimes in the neighborhood."

"A reporter huh? Have there been a lot of crimes recently?"

"The crime rate for this area went up almost 50% in the last two months. I think that most of it is infectious behavior but I'm sure that some of these crimes are connected. Probably g…" I stop when my mouth is covered by his hand!

His other arm comes around me holding tightly. At first it doesn't seem real, I'm just shocked and can't react. Then I realize he's actually trying to hurt me, I try to fight but he's strong, very strong and he seems to be squeezing with all his strength. I try to kick and hit, squirm and wriggle free but it's not working. Then his hand covering my mouth also pinches my nose and I can't breathe. I struggle harder, fighting for my life but he just squeezes harder! The more I struggle the less I can breathe and then things begin to go dark. I feel what I hope is not my last breath escape from my lips…

 **(ADAM)**

"You know how Clare is she probably just got caught up in her writing and lost track of time," Jane assures me. Clare was supposed to be at our place for dinner half an hour ago and she's not here yet, nor has she called. "Why don't you call her, she'll look at the time and feel awful for keeping us waiting and rush right over," my girlfriend suggests kissing my cheek.

"Yeah I'll call her," I nod grabbing my phone. Aside from Jane Clare is my most frequently called contact, even more than my brother, so her contact is on my home screen. I click on it putting the phone to my ear but it goes straight to voicemail. "It's me you're half an hour late and I'm getting worried," I tell her voicemail and hang up.

"Maybe she's driving," Jane tries to assure me.

I nod but I'm just not so sure. Clare has been late before but never this late and she always calls. I text, email and call again but nothing. When I can't get a hold of her I start pacing. I call her workplace but she doesn't answer her desk phone and the secretary says she hasn't been there since this morning. I call her cell phone every ten minutes but she never calls back, no text, no e-mail and she never shows up. When she's an hour late and we've heard nothing I decide I need to do something.

"I'm going to her place maybe something happened," I tell Jane. Honestly my first thought is that her cancer relapsed and she passed out and hit her head. The fear of a relapse has been in the back of her mind and mine since she went into remission.

"Alright let me know, I'll stay here in case she shows up. I'll call the hospitals too just in case," Jane says she's calm but I can see the worry in her eyes.

I grab my coat, kiss Jane and leave out apartment going down to my car. Clare's apartment isn't that far from ours and it only takes me a few moments to get there. Jane and I have a key to her place in case of emergencies and I go up to her apartment letting myself in. Her apartment is empty, doesn't look like she's been here since this morning. Something is wrong, I feel it in my bones, I can't find Clare and I can't report her as missing yet but we do have friends on the police force. Getting out my phone I try to call Lucas first, I am dating his sister after all, but he doesn't answer. Probably doing something with Paige I know it's date night for them. So, I hang up and call Spinner.

"Hey Adam," he says sort of absentmindedly and I know he's distracted by something.

"Have seen or heard from Clare today?"

"Yeah, she was at the station this afternoon to talk to me and Lucas," he replies.

"What time was that?"

"Uh about two maybe two and half hours ago. Wasn't she coming to your place for dinner?"

"She never showed up and I can't get a hold of her," I inform him.

"What?" Spinner asks his voice filling with alarm.

"We waited for over half an hour and I tried calling her. She didn't answer her cell, I texted, I emailed, I called her office phone, the secretary said she wasn't there. She's not at her apartment, I'm here and there's no sign of her," I enlighten him my voice anxious and full of uneasy dread.

"Damnit, I told her to be careful," Spinner growls and I hear him moving. "I'm coming to her place wait there for me," Spinner orders and hangs up.

Knowing he's coming I feel a little better, at least I have the help of a cop to track Clare down. Since I have nothing to do but wait for Spinner I call Jane to let her know what's going on.

"Did you find her?" Jane asks upon answering.

"No, she's not here. I called Spinner and he's on his way over. Keep dinner warm and I'll keep you informed," I tell her.

"Okay be careful I'll keep trying to call her. I called the hospitals and she's not at any hospital in the greater Toronto area," Jane tells me.

"Well I guess that's good news. I love you."

"I love you too," she replies and hangs up.

While waiting for Spin I look around Clare's apartment, I don't really find anything it's just her apartment. There was no struggle, no break-in, nothing's in disarray it's all as she left it before going to work. When there's a knock on the door I know it's not Clare because she has keys and I'm sure it's Spinner so I open the door. He looks around the apartment and then looks at me.

"Come on," he says.

I'm not going to argue so I follow him down to his car and get in. Spinner starts driving and I don't even ask where we're going. At first, I think we're going to the police station where he and Lucas work but Spinner keeps driving. He parks at a corner market, fairly certain that he's not stopping for a snack I get out with him. We go in to the counter and Spinner gets out his phone looking through his pictures and I realize he's trying to find a picture of Clare. I have several on my phone so I get it out and pull up a picture from last week showing it to the clerk.

"Have you seen her?" I ask him.

"Yes, she was outside earlier this evening taking some pictures of the flowers and things left for that woman that was killed. Usually the ones out there taking pictures are nuts, murder buffs you know but she's a reporter, she asked me some questions the other day," the clerk responds.

"Thanks," Spinner says and taps my arm, "come on Adam."

"She's investigating a story, isn't she?" I ask Spinner when we get back into his car.

"Yes, about the recent rise in crime. She put together a map of all the most recent crime scenes, everything from the last couple of weeks. She said she was going to get pictures of them for the article. I told her to be careful, not to go down alleys or anything in the dark she must not have listened or..." his sentence trails off but I know what he's going to say.

Either Spinner remembers the map or he remembers the crime scene addresses. We stop at a couple more places and then we come to a house and Clare's car is parked out front. It's both a good sign and a bad omen. We both hop out of the car and begin calling for her.

"CLARE," we holler together but get no answer. I run to her car but it's locked.

"This way," Spinner says walking to the back gate.

We walk into the backyard and Spinner gets out a flashlight shining it around the grass. The flashlight hits on something and my heart stops, her purse is lying in the grass, her phone too. We run over and pick them up, her phone is flashing with notifications from all my missed calls, all of Jane's, my text. Spinner picks up her purse and looks at it, then looks around.

"Someone else was here," he says and gets out his phone putting it to his ear. "Adam, we need to retrace our steps back," Spinner says and I nod. "Martin, it's Spinner I need a unit and the crime scene guys at 581 Glenpark right now we have a missing woman, she was abducted."

 **(CLARE)**

My eyes open and I gasp as if waking from a nightmare, I feel dizzy and when I try to move I find my hands bound above my head. Remembering I was attacked I begin to panic struggling against my bindings but it only seems to make them tighter. I force myself to calm down and take a deep breath, panicking will not get me out of this situation. I only hope I can get out of this situation. It's impossible to get completely calm but once I've settled my breathing and heartrate a little I take stock of just how big of a nightmare I got myself into.

Besides being bound I have a gag in, I seem to be dangling from a support beam and must be in a basement. My legs are not bound, but as I can't free my hands from the rope with my feet; and I can't break this thick support beam, my feet being free is only useful if he comes back down. It's pretty dark down here but there are two small windows roughly at street level. The windows are closed which makes it incredibly musty down here but they are letting in some light, from street lights I assume, so I can see a little.

Since I have nothing to do at the moment but think my first question is why was I taken? Did he think I knew he'd broken into the house? Or was it because I mentioned my theory that the crimes were connected? Or was he simply looking at a crime scene out of morbid curiosity and I became a victim of opportunity? Although I suppose why I'm currently in this situation is less important than will I be able to get out of it? Surely Adam knows I'm missing by now but will they be able to find me?

As I'm pondering these things I hear the stairs above me creaking and heavy footsteps on the stairs. My captor is coming back, my breaths begin to shallow and my heartbeat accelerates with every creak of the stairs and every footstep. A light comes on and the sudden brightness causes me squint. When I open my eyes again he's standing before me, his bright red hair, being lit by the yellow bulb, looks like the embers of hell. His blue eyes are glinting with a malicious pleasure that sends a rolling shiver up my spine. The lips of his wide mouth curl up into a venomously lecherous grin that churns my stomach. In the shock of seeing the evil look on his face I forget my legs aren't bound.

"Well glad you finally woke up I was afraid I held on too long. You know I thought you looked a little familiar and then I remembered I've seen you in that magazine. I looked up your bio on the magazine website, you went to DeGrassi," he says hissing on the s's in DeGrassi and then he kind of cackles. "I went to Lakehurst, I might have gone to DeGrassi but you see I killed a kid. J.T. Yorke, stabbed him," he says and I gasp slightly. Everyone at DeGrassi knows J.T. was killed he has a memorial garden at DeGrassi. "You know what happened when I felt J.T.'s warm blood on my hand? I discovered I like killing," he tells me and I feel my blood turn cold. "Before I could do any more I went to prison, I learned a lot in prison and I just got paroled so I've been playing around to discover what I like best."

Suddenly I realize why I'm here. He may have been revisiting his crime scene or visiting someone else's for inspiration. Either way he found me there and I was right some of the crimes are connected because he committed them, experimenting with what he likes. Now I'm here, in his clutches and he he's still experimenting, as a myriad of possibilities start to run through my head my captor walks over to a cabinet. He gets out a few things and returns to me carrying a car battery connected to a wire.

"Made it myself, haven't tested it out yet but you get to be my test subject," he says his voice filled with excitedly vicious vulgarity. He connects another wire to the battery and I see a spark at one end.

My captor laughs manically while I try to fight my bindings again, screaming into my gag and then I remember my legs are free. I swing and kick him, I don't hit him very hard but I do hit him.

"You can try kicking all you want it won't do very much. Now let's see how well this works," he remarks gripping my blouse with one hand and tugging hard so that it rips open.

Then he takes the wire and touches it to my skin. I scream against the gag as I'm hit by a sharp and terrible pain. It forces my muscles to convulse, it makes my chest hurt and my captor laughs taking the wire away, touching to my belly and I scream again, tears falling from my eyes and all he does is laugh.

 **(SPINNER)**

"The station called," Lucas says as he jumps out of his car, "Clare's been taken?"

"Yeah her purse and phone are on their way to the lab but I doubt they'll find much. We're canvasing the neighborhood but…" my sentence trails off and Lucas nods because he knows.

"I told Jane to stay at the apartment," Adam says after hanging up with Jane.

"You should go home too Adam," I tell him.

"No, I'm staying here, I'm not going home until we find Clare," Adam shakes his head.

"Adam go home and be with Jane we'll t…" Lucas is saying when Adam cuts him off.

"NO. No I'm not leaving, you don't understand we've been best friends since we were fifteen. We've seen each other through so much, there is no way I can go home and wait while she's in the hands of some maniac," Adam states firmly.

"Alright let's go back to the station there's nothing we can do here. You can hang out and you'll know what we know as soon as we know, but you're not a cop don't even try and go chasing after leads on your own," I tell him firmly and he nods.

Lucas gets back in his car, Adam and I get into mine and we go back to the station. There's not a lot we can do at the station besides wait for lab results and reports from the field. Mostly I want to keep Adam out of trouble. We get back to the station and Lucas lets Adam sit at his desk while he checks with the lab. When Lucas comes back he tells us the lab found only Clare's and Adam's fingerprints. We figured they would but it's still disheartening. Now we just have to hope that the neighborhood canvas finds something, hope that someone saw something because right now we have no clues and Clare could be anywhere, subject to anything. Or she could be dead already and we could be too late.

Now that the lab is done with Clare's phone I keep Adam busy by going through it. There's probably nothing else on it but there could be and I'm sure he knows his way around the phone. He's also been pacing for several minutes now so Lucas is sitting at his desk again. For about an hour we stay at our desks with busy work, searching for clues that aren't there but at least it's something. And then our radios crackle and we all freeze.

"Mason, Valieri you there?"

"Do you have something Swann?" I question.

"Yeah got a neighbor that was walking her dog and saw a car parked behind Clare's just after dark. A dark blue Ford Taurus, got a partial plate," Officer Swann informs us and it's a ray of hope. The first and only one we've had since we found out she was missing.

"Go ahead," Lucas says at his computer ready to enter the partial plate number.

Swann gives us the first four letters of the license plate and Lucas types it into the system. Adam and I both go to his side of the double desks, looking over his shoulder at the screen with him. It's enough of a partial plate and a description of the car that it returns one result for cars registered in Toronto. Lucas clicks on the name and I feel like I got punched in the stomach. Lucas must feel the same, possibly worse.

"Fuck," Lucas breaths out.

"You know him?" Adam asks.

"Yeah Drake Lempkey, you know the memorial garden at DeGrassi for J.T. well Jake is the reason it's there. He stabbed J.T. and went to prison for it at seventeen," I tell Adam.

"Looks like he got paroled a few months ago but I don't see so much as a parking ticket since he got out. Either he's clean or he's being careful," Lucas states.

"Either way we have enough to go question him. Let's go, he knows us maybe it will trip him up if he did do something," I tell Lucas hitting his upper bicep with the back of my hand and then looking at Adam. "You stay here we don't know if he has Clare yet and it could be dangerous. Langer," I call to a young female officer, "keep an eye on him."

She nods and Lucas and I make sure to have our IDs, badges, guns and tasers before leaving. We take an unmarked car driving to the address on Drake's DMV record. While I drive Lucas calls it in and requests backup to the location because we're going to the house of a known killer and suspected kidnapper. I park outside of the small house, nothing is alarming on the outside it's just a house. We wait for backup, Swann and his partner arrive in a marked car without lights and sirens. They park close but out of sight so they don't spook Drake. Lucas knocks and we wait but no one comes; and then I hear a terrifying sound, one that sends a cold chill to my heart and will stay branded in my memory until my dying breath. A faint and muffled scream, barely audible and I think it's a TV somewhere or I'm hearing things but then I hear it again. I look at Lucas and he nods indicating he heard it too.

"You two stay at this door, we're going around back. That scream gives us probable cause but if we break the door in he could get spooked and kill her," I tell Swann and his partner and they nod.

Lucas and I go around back, there's a door back here and it's locked but when we hear the scream again Lucas and I kick it down. It was loud but we hear silence in the house, he's probably wondering what the noise was. Inside the house is pretty dark but there's one light on in the kitchen and we see a light behind a door in here, it must lead to a basement. We hear footsteps on the stairs and stand on either side of the door ready for him. Apparently Drake is smarter than I remember because he fires through the door before opening it. Lucas and I stand ready to fire but the door doesn't open. I signal to Lucas that I'm going to open the door and to get ready to fire, Lucas nods. I'm next to the door handle so I reach over to open it, slowly and quietly as I can but it squeaks and he starts firing again. I give up on opening the door and we start firing again, right through the door. It seems like several minutes of gunfire, Swann and his partner kick in the front door and run to us. We all start firing through the basement door and then we hear a groan and something drops to the stairs before sliding down. When we hear a thump Lucas opens the door, but we have our guns ready. Drake is in a pile at the landing. He still might be alive so we approach cautiously with guns still drawn. When we get down we see he's been shot in the face, the chest and stomach, we take his gun but we're sure he's dead. Now that it's silent I hear sobbing, I leap over Drake's dead body and down the last three steps and then I freeze.

Clare is tied to a support beam; her blouse is torn open she's got burn marks on her. Drake was shocking her with a homemade device. He's also beat her or bruised her she's got several in different states of development. He's also poked or pieced her skin, cut her and it looks like he tried to strangle her as well. She's only been in his captivity for about four hours and it looks like he just got started. Lucas comes behind me putting a hand on my shoulder, I feel him go tense as he sees Clare. Forcing myself to recover from the shock we rush over and Lucas takes out his pocket knife cutting her down. When she's free I take her in my arms and remove her gag.

"Call an ambulance, and you'd better call Adam," I tell Lucas. He gets on the radio calling for an ambulance. Then he tells the station to have a car bring Adam to meet us at the hospital. Clare just sobs against my chest and I hold her tight hoping I'm not hurting her, "You're safe he's dead he can't hurt you or anyone else again."

I carry her up the stairs waiting for the ambulance to get here. Lucas follows me up, we should be securing the scene, looking for other evidence but right now we're not cops we're worried friends. She continues to cry and shake in my arms, even when the EMTs get here I hesitate to let her go. After seeing what Drake did to her, and having held her in my arms I don't want to let her go, part of me never wants to let her go again.

"Spin we need to get her to the hospital," Cora says to me. We know most of the EMTs in the area because we often end up at the same calls.

"We'll follow them," Lucas remarks taking Clare from me to put her on the gurney.

We watch her get put in the ambulance and we get in our car hitting our sirens to follow the ambulance to the hospital. Adam is already here and watches her get wheeled in on the gurney. Even though she's mostly covered up she doesn't look well and he sees it.

"Clare!" Adam gasps, his voice get strangles by fear. She opens her eyes to look at him and they close again. "What…what happened to her?" Adam questions sinking into a chair as tears fill his eyes.

"Drake was torturing her," I admit there's no use in trying to hide the truth it wouldn't do him any good.

"Drake's dead," Lucas assures him.

"I should call Jane," Adam breathes after a moment.

"I'll call her, and Paige too," Lucas says.

We know there isn't anyone else to call just now, her mom and stepdad moved to Victoria to be closer to Jake after Clare went to school in New York. She almost never speaks to her dad or Darcy and Jake is in California. Adam and I sit in the waiting room and wait to see Clare. Paige and Jane show up at the same time so I think they came together. They both hug me, Paige hugs Adam before sitting with Lucas and Jane hugs her brother before kissing Adam and sitting with him. We sit there for a while, the radio cackles and our commanding officer calls us back to the station but we tell him we're waiting at the hospital to get Clare's statement. After what feels like an eternity a doctor finally comes to us.

"Is she okay?" Adam asks.

"She's alive and physically she'll heal in a few weeks. Her shoulder was dislocated, it's been reset and will need to be in a sling for a couple days. There is deep bruising on her neck which has affected her vocal cords, her voice should return to normal in a few days. She has multiple bruises and cuts but she was lucky they are relatively minor, she doesn't need stitches and those will all heal within a few weeks. We are giving her a course of antibiotics to be safe. We're going to keep her here for a few days for observation. The electrical burns she endured are substantial, near sensitive organs and have the potential to cause some real harm. We're running some tests and she'll be returning from a CT scan in a few moments, when she's back in her room you can go in and see her."

"Thanks Doc," I nod.

"Clare's strong she'll be okay," Adam says in a strong tone but sounds like he's trying to convince himself as much as us.

After a few moments, a nurse tells us we can go see Clare and takes us to Clare's room. She's awake and laying in her bed, a heart monitor on her finger and an IV with fluids in her arm. At least she looks a little better than when we first saw her. You can still see the bruising on her neck, face and arms but the rest of her is covered.

"I didn't go looking for him Spinner, I promise," she tells me in a pleading voice while her eyes fill with tears.

"I know," I assure her. I sit on the edge of the bed and wipe the tear rolling down her cheek. "What did happen?" I ask her taking her hand.

Adam sits on the other side of her bed, Jane stands by him while Lucas and Paige stand at the end of her bed. She tells us that she was taking pictures of the crime scene and he surprised her. She thought he was someone from the neighborhood but then he grabbed her, holding her chest tight and covering her nose and mouth until she passed out. She woke up bound and in the dark basement. He told her that he killed J.T. and found he liked killing, that he learned a lot while in prison. When he got out he began experimenting and he was going to experiment on her. Then he hooked wires to a car battery and used it to shock her. She stops talking for a moment and closes her eyes taking a deep breath.

"He'd shock me and then laugh, he was enjoying it so much that I thought he'd never stop and the pain was immense. Finally, he decided that he wanted to try something else, he strangled me with his hands, said he'd never done that before and last time he used rope. I passed out, I was sure he'd killed me but then I felt him hit me," she tells us picking up her other hand attached to the heart monitor to touch the bruise on her cheek. Then he decided he liked that and picked up a wrench hitting me with it on the side and stomach. I don't know if he got bored or decided he wanted to try something else but he went upstairs to get a knife. I was sure he was going to stab me but he began with cutting, shallow at first and then he started getting deeper. He never went too deep I think he was delighting in my pain more than anything else. His favorite thing was shocking me, he went to back to that. He talked about keeping me for days and continuing his experiments but then he heard a noise and you came. How did you find me?"

We tell her about the eyewitness and the partial plate number. Tracking it to Drake and his address and hearing her scream.

"We got extremely lucky, but he's dead and he can never harm you again," I assure her.

The doctor comes in and tells us her CT scan is clear. We stay with her until she falls asleep, and then Lucas and I return to the station and file our reports and her statement. Lucas goes home to Paige but I return to the hospital to be with Clare.

She's in the hospital for three days and then released. The doctors tell her that it's unlikely that she'll have any long term physical effects from what she went through. Mentally however, that's another story.

Adam and I take her home upon her release and stay while she showers and changes. We're all going to Lucas and Paige's house for a welcome home dinner party. Clare does smile and seems to be having a good time but I can see in her eyes the fear that remains and I take her hand under the table. When the party is over Adam is going home with Jane and I take Clare home.

"He's dead Clare, he can't harm you anymore," I remind her taking her up to her apartment.

"I know but would you mind staying the night anyway? He's still here," she says touching her head.

I close the door and lock it behind me, "Not going anywhere. I'll stay as long as you need me."

"Spin?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you dated Darcy and it may seem weird but I li…"

Before she can finish I take her hand interlacing our fingers. With my other hand I place my fingers under her chin, tipping her face up, lock my eyes with hers and take her lips for a tender, passionate and long overdue kiss!

 **Hope you enjoyed. Next updated will be** _ **You Believed in Me, Let Me be Right for You.**_


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